Actual findings of CBO Report on Affordable Care Act

Though partisan rhetoric on the Affordable Care Act as “job-killer” was the sound bite of the week when the Congressional Budget Office submitted its projections for the ACA to Congress, this spin overshadowed the real findings of the report.

The CBO reported the Affordable Care Act will bring down the deficit, create jobs and address job-lock, all problems supposedly championed by Republicans. While many of us have fallen prey to the oft cited “train wreck” description of Obamacare, it is hardly borne out by the facts of the CBO report.

Many forget that the ACA was “paid for” when it was passed in 2010 – a rarity in Washington that makes the ACA less of a “train wreck” than most bills passed by Congress. Since then, even with all the partisan efforts to delay and defund the rollout in many states, the ACA can still claim deficit reduction, added jobs and the elimination of health care-induced, job-lock.

Aging workers locked into jobs to maintain insurance will be able to retire if they choose. New mothers who will not be dropped from coverage may opt to stay home with their newborns, rather than return to the workforce. These are the decisions being put back into the hands of workers by the ACA. And these are the “job losses” the CBO projected, that FactCheck.org said Republicans are mischaracterizing for political gain.

Partisan attacks continually position the ACA as a big-government take-over. But left to their own devices, health care providers were bankrupting families facing illness and out-of-control insurance costs claimed 18 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. The ACA was long overdue, much needed, and was going to be complex and hard, regardless of who passed the law. In light of these specifics, Republican arguments that we need “something else,” really don’t cut it. ACA already uses their best ideas and its the law.

The health care exchanges are market-based using private insurers – the CBO report states premiums are decreasing at a faster rate than originally projected (a 15 percent overall reduction). So, the ACA is working by most objective measures – and yet the negative spin would have us believe otherwise.

New Hampshire voters are smart enough to understand that rhetoric and data are two different things. A “train wreck” is what you get when you relinquish control to those intent on derailment.